The expansion is underway with a $30 million plan to replace the internal medical information system. Construction is expected to start next month to build about 130,000 square feet of medical space as part of the non-profit hospital’s largest expansion since it opened in 1979 on Military Trail.

About six acres of land has been bought by JMC along Toney Penna Drive. Part of that land will be used for parking for about 250 employees who now park offsite and are bused to JMC.

Completion of the expansion, which will include an intensive care unit for infants, is expected in the summer of 2019.

Strong donations from the public are the reason the expansion is being done now, said Hocking.

About $94 million has been donated in the past three years to JMC, putting it in the same fund-raising league with other major American hospitals such as Boston Children’s Hospital and San Francisco General Hospital.